Welcome to the MLB Yahoo Cup Hot Corner! This free-to-enter, single-entry fantasy baseball contest consists of 27 rounds where the top 1,075 overall entries and the top 70 entries per round share $10,000, with $1,000 to first and $50 to first per round. Scoring will be cumulative across all rounds, with your seven lowest scores dropped at the end. You may join this multi-round MLB DFS contest at any point, but enter today to give yourself the best chance to take home the title. Click here to begin the chase!
Let’s focus on three players — one pitcher, one infielder and one outfielder — to be MLB DFS picks for tonight’s MLB Yahoo Cup contest.
MLB Yahoo Cup Fantasy Baseball Picks | Round 18
MLB DFS Pitcher: Lucas Giolito — $47
After a week of rostering weak pitchers by default, Friday is an embarrassment of pitching riches at the top of the board. Cases can be made for rostering the likes of Freddy Peralta ($52), Gerrit Cole ($51) or Zack Wheeler ($50) as SP1’s, as all three carry the kind of elite strikeout stuff that can break the slate. However, there might be one option in Lucas Giolito at $47 that Awesemo’s data suggests has the same kind of upside, but at a slightly discounted salary.
Using the Awesemo Top Pitchers tool, Giolito has the third-best top-two pitcher percentage on the board at 18.5%. Those odds might not seem like a lot, but they only trail Wheeler and Peralta (and by less than 2%, no less). Giolito also draws a fantastic Brewers matchup, as they strike out 25.6% of the time against right-handed pitching for the season, fifth worst in all of MLB. It could also be argued Giolito is due for some positive regression, as his 3.90 ERA does not matchup with his 3.37 xERA, indicating his solid results could be even better. Add in the minor savings and fantastic outlook in this spot, and Giolito makes for a high-floor/high-upside option for the Yahoo Cup tonight.
MLB DFS Infielder: Jacob Wilson — $7
Prepare to roster a bunch of unknown names these next few weeks, as teams both in and out of contention start calling up their Triple-A talent in hopes of finding something special. For the Athletics, who are currently 56-42 and second in the American League West, that means promoting Jacob Wilson today in hopes that his .288/.385/.630 slash line at Triple-A Las Vegas can translate to the big league level. With the struggles of Matt Chapman and the hamstring injury to utility player Chad Pinder, Wilson could remain with the A’s for the remainder of the season with some decent showings the next few weeks.
Wilson draws a matchup with Yusei Kikuchi in Seattle tonight, so he will have the platoon split in his favor. And while Kikuchi can generate some swings and misses, as evidenced by his 25.2% strikeout this season, he also gives up a 43.8% hard-hit rate that translates into a .427 xSLG. Third base is a weaker position than in years past, so the opportunity cost of rostering Wilson is not nearly as high as it might have been in years past. So even if he hits ninth tonight, Wilson should be considered a serviceable one-off for MLB Yahoo Cup lineups.
MLB DFS Outfielder: Juan Soto — $29
It is undeniable how good of a spot Nationals bats are in facing the Orioles this evening. Not only do they receive a huge ballpark upgrade and a DH spot due to playing an American League team, but starter Jorge Lopez and the bullpen behind him are flat-out atrocious. For the season, Lopez sports a 44.9% hard-hit rate, .436 xSLG and 9.6% walk rate, meaning he could be in for a long night against Juan Soto and company.
The one problem the Awesemo Top Stacks tool highlights in playing the Nationals is how cheap they are on other DFS sites. As a result, they are being rostered at far too high of a clip to justify the play with 27 other teams in play. But Yahoo did an exceptional job of increasing the Nationals’ salaries to account for the matchup, making them far less rostered by the public. In fact, Soto carries the largest tag of any batter on the slate, but rightfully so with his .302 average, 16 homers and .932 OPS in an ideal matchup and hitting environment. So while Soto and the Nationals may seem like a luxury item that is hard to afford, the upside is worth the steep investment.
